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Mice
A mouse is a small rodent characteristically having a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse. It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are locally common. They are known to invade homes for food and shelter. ''Types of Mice 'House Mouse' One sign of a mouse infestation is little mouse droppings - even a small infestation can produce literally thousands of droppings in a short period of time! 'Deer Mouse' Deer Mice can transmit a wide variety of diseases to humans. One serious and often fatal disease transmitted by the deer mouse is Hantavirus. 'Norway Rat' Sometimes referred to as a "super rat," these large rats can reach 16 inches in length, including the tail. Favorite foods of this basement dweller include bacon and shrimp! 'Roof Rat' When roof rats inhabit upper areas of office buildings and homes, they often gnaw on wires, possibly leading to fires, outages, and production down-time. 'Woodrat (Packrat) Earning its nickname "packrat," this furry, giant hamster-like rodent is particularly fond of shiny objects, and will drop whatever it's carrying to take the trinket instead. '''Vole Voles can have up to 17 litters and 80 pups in a year. However, voles have many predators, and most voles only survive a few months in the wild. 'Shrew' Shrews will eat animals five times larger than themselves. They may even go after birds at feeders. For the most part, however, they are beneficial – eating mice and insects. 'Mole' Moles are unique in appearance, having webbed feet they use for "swimming" in the soil. One species, the star-nosed mole, has 22 tentacle-like projections around its mouth. 'Gopher' Gophers present a more serious problem than moles, because of their inadvertent destruction of underground utility cables, water lines, sprinkler systems and irrigation pipes. Facts about Mice *Mice are intelligent creatures with complex levels of communication, which is both vocal, often beyond the auditory range of humans, and odorous. *It is thought that mice empatise with other mice. They are able to sense the experience of other individuals and this deeply affects how they themselves feel. *Mice have facial expressions which communicate their mood to others. *Mice are keen explorers. They find inventive ways of feeing satisfying their curiosity to investigate such as squeezing through tight gaps and biting through obstacles with their strong teeth. *Mice are incredibly clean, tidy and organised. Within their intricate underground homes they have specific areas for storing food, going to the toilet, and for shelter. *Mice like to stay close to their home and usually only venture up to 3-8m away from their nest in search of food. *Whiskers help mice to sense smooth and rough edges, temperature change and breezes. *Mice have great balance and can walk along very thin pieces of rope or wire. They can even scale rough vertical surfaces. *Mice can jump down 3-4m without injuring themselves. *The mouse is a shamanic symbol of wisdom, scrutiny, discovery and organisation. Videos Category:Animals